A/N: I'm trying my best to write quickly since I go away for 2 months half-way through March, but don't expect every update to come this fast! :P

Thanks for the great response to the prologue, guys. I hope you like this one too.

'I just don't get it,' comments Jesse, for the sixth time since they started this shift. 'What's the big deal? So she hugs you a lot. Whatever. I'd kill to have a pretty girl all over me like that.'

Beca rolls her eyes. 'Thanks for the sympathy as usual. And I told you, it just makes me feel weird.'

'Weird, how, though?' he wonders. 'You never say.'

'Weird. How can I define that any more than I have?' Beca shoves a record back into its place in the shelf, a little too forcefully. She really needs to watch that. If she ruins anything else in the studio in one of fits of anger, Luke'll kill her.

'Try using a thesaurus. That might help.' He grins at her; Beca wishes she actually had a thesaurus, so she could throw it at him and wipe that stupid smile off his face. 'Or, hey!' He fumbles in his pocket for his iPhone, producing it a moment later with a triumphant flourish. 'The magic of technology, eh?'

'Are you seriously going to look up synonyms for weird?' Jesse waves her away while he prods and clicks his way onto the internet. Beca sighs, wondering whether he ever actually intends to do any work while he's here instead of spending his time bugging her. Like Chloe, he kind of wormed his way into her life without her consent. At least he knows to keep his physical distance from her, after she nearly knocked out a tooth punching him when he tried to hug her.

'Let's see, synonyms for weird, synonyms for weird… Aha. Awe-inspiring,' he reads aloud, sniggering to himself. 'Creepy. Curious. Dreadful. Far-out. Hey, Becaw, dude, does Chloe make you feel far-out? You joining The High Notes now?' He pretends to smoke, putting on an over-the-top stoner voice. Beca ignores him. He scans the website for a few more moments, giggling to himself. 'Heh, "kinky". That's a word here. Sounds about right.' He winks at Beca, who simply rolls her eyes, as is her usual reaction to Jesse. Then suddenly, he laughs, making Beca jump a little from the volume of it. 'Queer!'

'What?' says Beca, alarmed.

'It's listed as a synonym, look.' He shoves the screen in her face. It is. 'I bet Chloe makes you feel "queer",' he says with a manic grin, complete with air quotes for emphasis of his crappy joke.

Beca groans, slapping her forehead. 'If you're going to make stupid puns like that, I'm starting to think that telling you I like girls was the biggest mistake of my life.'

'Or it was the best thing you've ever done,' he counters, putting away his phone. 'Aren't I the greatest lesbro ever?'

'Hm. I've had better.'

'No but really,' Jesse complains about half an hour later. 'What's the big deal?'

He ducks when Beca pretends she's going to throw a CD in his direction; unfortunately Luke also sees her do this and leaves the booth to yell at her.

Practice the next morning is as long and awkward as she feared. Beca actually attempted to just stay in bed, hoping to skip it with no consequences if she just curled up under her blankets and blocked the rest of the world out. However, somehow, as though reading her mind, Aubrey sent a mass text to all the Bellas:

I would just like to remind everyone today that practice is MANDATORY and there will be severe consequences for those who do not attend without a good enough excuse. No, relationship issues do not count.

See you all there!

Aubrey x

Beca therefore has to force herself out of bed to make it to practice in time and avoid Aubrey's wrath. It doesn't get any better from there. She actually has to make an effort to dance this time so Aubrey won't try and come over to correct her moves, since Chloe is keeping her distance.

As she makes box shapes with her hands, a fake smile plastered on her face, she feels like both sets of eyes follow her throughout practice. One is probably mentally thinking of ways to murder her, the other… Well, she has no idea what Chloe might be thinking. For once her face is extremely hard to read; she either wears her usual sunny smile or a face like someone kicked her puppy (not that Beca is trying to surreptitiously watch out of the corner of her eye or anything). Those are the only times she shows much expression. Half the time she just stands there, gazing into the distance; people have to keep snapping her back into attention, otherwise she just stands there for minutes at a time.

Needless to say, it's a little disconcerting to see Chloe acting so off-kilter, and even worse to know it's probably all Beca's fault.

…

But then again, is it her fault? She thought it was, but upon further reflection she's not so sure. She yelled at Chloe, and managed to upset her enough that she hasn't said a word to Beca since she got here. That makes sense. But there's no way that she could have affected Chloe enough to make her look this sad, this pained, this… lost.

Right?

Aubrey sure seems to believe it possible. So when she calls, 'Beca, a word please?' at the end of practice with a murderous face she shouts, 'Nope!' and makes a run for it.

She can't escape Aubrey forever. She knew this. Beca had actually expected her to appear at her dorm after practice, maybe the same evening at the latest, but to her surprise, she takes her time. Perhaps the delay is to increase the feelings of apprehension and fear in her target; Beca has no idea. At any rate, by the time she comes looking for Beca, Kimmy Jin has returned from whatever family emergency she has, complete with a solid bad mood with which to greet her roommate.

To say Aubrey knocks on the door could not fittingly describe the racket she makes; she bangs on the door so viciously Beca wonders if she's just running at it with her whole body. It goes on for several minutes. Beca only actually opens the door because Kimmy Jin is glaring so viciously at her, and she's worried Aubrey might actually break through the wood.

She barely has the door open before Aubrey pushes past Beca, without even a greeting.

'Do come in, Aubrey,' she drawls. 'Take a seat, make yourself at home. Can I get you a drink? A key to my room maybe, so you don't even have to trouble yourself with knocking?'

'Do yourself a favour, Beca - just be quiet,' Aubrey shoots back immediately, standing in the middle of the dorm with her hands on her hips, her usual pose when she's trying to be intimidating. 'This'll be a lot easier that way.'

Just behind her, Kimmy Jin is looking on as well. If looks could kill, she's pretty sure everyone in the room except Kimmy Jin would be dead, and Beca would be be dead twice. If that were possible.

'Pleasant as always.'

'I said be quiet.' Aubrey folds her arms - moving up a stage in her fury. There's an anger reflected in her tense posture that Beca hasn't really seen before - at least, not this particular variation. It's not 'Stop-making-suggestions-bitch-I-call-the-shots-here' or 'Stacie-for-the-love-of-GOD-stop-groping-yourself' or even 'I-wonder-if-murdering-Bumper-is-against-ICCA-rules' anger, which are all ones she's quite familiar with. This one, she realises with a pang of regret, is plain, simple 'You-hurt-my-best-friend' and Beca is probably going to pay for it, big time. 'I've wasted enough time just trying to get you to open the door. You already know why I'm here.'

Trying to buy time, she lies. 'No, I really don't.'

'Cut the bullshit, Mitchell. What did you do to Chloe?' she demands.

In an attempt to stall, Beca crosses the room to her desk and starts to clean up. She hasn't really bothered with that much since she started here. Her music collection might be pristine and meticulously organised, but there's a growing pile of clothes on her chair where she just dumps them after an exhausting day.

'Don't know what you mean,' she says shortly.

'Yes you do. She's acting weird, and I'm certain it's your fault.'

Beca tries not to think of Jesse's annoying list of synonyms for "weird". 'Newsflash: Chloe is weird. What makes you think I have anything to do with it?'

Aubrey scoffs. 'I'll thank you not to try and make your situation worse by insulting her and playing dumb. But since your memory seems to be failing you…' She starts to count off on her fingers. 'One, she's been like this since the two of you had that movie night last week. When I came home, she would barely even speak to me. Two, you guys keep gazing at each other forlornly during practice when the other isn't looking - when you should be concentrating on singing and choreography, might I add! We are this close to Regionals - we don't have time for distractions like that. I'm not finished,' she snaps when Beca opens her mouth to speak. 'And three, eventually, she told me. After no small amount of coercion, but she told me nonetheless.'

'She did?' asks Beca, surprised.

'Yeah. Apparently some scowling midget wearing a tacky ear spike bitched her out for being her normal, albeit slightly more touchy-feely than most, self.' Aubrey's voice is dripping with sarcasm, her glare heated. 'So I took it upon myself to find out why said scowling midget and her tacky ear spike thinks she has the right to say horrible things to my best friend.'

Beca is unfazed by Aubrey's insults, but is a little surprised that Chloe told her. For some reason, she hadn't expected her to. 'Funnily enough, I don't think I have to explain anything to you. And anyway, this is between me and Chloe, not you.'

'That's "Chloe and I",' Aubrey corrects.

'Ugh!' Beca flops down down on her bed, putting her arm over her face in hope Aubrey might just disappear if she doesn't look at her. She hears some rustling and movement, then the slam of a door. Shocked, she sits up quickly, thinking Aubrey had actually left. But no such luck. Kimmy Jin had apparently gotten sick of the drama and walked out.

'Great, now I have no witnesses.'

'Then you better start talking if you know what's good for you.' Aubrey stands next to Beca's bed, towering over her. Any chance to look imposing, Beca thinks. 'Why did you upset Chloe?'

'I didn't deliberately set out to upset her.'

'Regardless, that is what happened. So explain. Now.'

Beca swears she can feel her eye twitching.

'What part of "this is between Chloe and I"-' She stresses the correct grammar, mocking Aubrey, 'don't you understand? Would she even want you to get involved on her behalf?'

'Of course,' Aubrey says confidently, even though Beca thinks she's just lying. 'Anyway, I think I have the right to be involved when someone makes my best friend cry the way she did for no reason.'

Beca frowns. 'She cried?'

'Practically flooded the apartment,' Aubrey confirms.

Beca considers this for a few moments. The confirmation that Chloe has been crying just adds to the guilt - not that Beca is that surprised, considering how she left Beca's dorm the other day. She didn't need Aubrey coming here and telling her that to make her feel like the worst person in the world; she already had that covered. But her face stays stony, not willing to show that Chloe has such an impact on her feelings.

And then she finds herself saying, with a careless wave, 'Whatever. She's just being over-sensitive. She'll get over it.'

Suddenly, Aubrey seizes her wrist, glowering down at Beca. 'You actually dare say that about her?!'

Her grip is loose, she's not hurting Beca at all. It's mostly just because of that stupid little wave, which would piss her off if someone spoke about Chloe so flippantly. She knows that. None of that stops Beca's blood pressure from sky-rocketing through the roof at the feel of Aubrey's fingers closing around her forearm.

Calmly – much more calmly than she spoke to Chloe, she can't help thinking – Beca says from between gritted teeth, 'Let go of me. Now.'

Aubrey does let go. She takes a step back. Beca gets the feeling she knows a line has been crossed, judging by the way her gaze shifts away a little sheepishly. After an awkward few moments of silence, Aubrey offers up a begrudging, 'Sorry. But you shouldn't have said what you did about her.'

'I know.' Beca stares at her arm, still feeling the phantom grip of Aubrey's fingers on her skin. She feels vaguely nauseous, not quite knowing why. 'I didn't mean it.'

'Does that mean you'll apologise to her?'

'Don't know.'

'Why not?'

'How is it I'm the only bad guy here?' Beca snaps, scowling at her bed-sheets. 'I needed Chloe to back off. It's not like we're talking about a couple of hugs that went on too long, here - for God's sake, the girl got into the shower with me. If Chloe was a boy we wouldn't even be having this conversation.'

'Probably not,' Aubrey admits, but then quickly retorts with, 'But whatever – in reality, Chloe is a girl. Her intentions aren't the same as a guy's would be, so you're missing the point.'

Beca sighs deeply, rubbing her forehead in an effort to fend off the impending headache she's getting. 'Then what's this mysterious point I'm somehow missing? You better tell me, because I have no idea.'

Aubrey levels her gaze at Beca until she makes the mistake of looking up, effectively getting trapped in the glare being used on her. She apparently wants the victims of her lectures to have to look her right in the eyes as she tears them to shreds.

'The point, Beca, is that you hurt her feelings and made her cry, because you didn't know how to control your anger and deal with things like a grown-up. That she's second-guessing herself all the time now, because of you making her feel creepy and weird for something that just comes naturally to her. She's just being affectionate. It's not her fault you can't deal with physical contact – it was your responsibility to make that clear to her earlier.' Aubrey lifts her chin, looking down her nose at Beca disdainfully. 'All she wanted was to be your friend.' She scoffs. 'I can't think why. And right now, I bet she can't either.'

It's an unnecessary comment, meant to hurt Beca. It does its job spectacularly well.

'Who knows,' replied Beca flatly, rolling onto the side that doesn't face Aubrey. 'Get out.'

When she returns, Beca asks Kimmy Jin if she's messed up. Practically before Beca even finishes the question, she replies coldly, 'Yes.'

She can always count on her best friend Kimmy Jin to boost her ego.

(Jesse is a little more helpful when she texts him - 'No ofc you're not messed up. don't be a stupid head.'.

But only for a little while, before she just starts ignoring him - 'Aubrey kinda had a point though. i'm sorry don't kill me!')

(Beca? cmon don't be mad. Look you should just talk to Chloe okay? I'm sure she'll forgive you and you can talk it out with her and make out or whatever it is you guys do!)

(That was a joke btw don't get mad at me for that either plz.)

(Beca?)

(Why is this getting to you so much? I just don't get it. Do you really like her or something? Cause that's cool, you know, we can talk about it. So do you?)

(At that point, she texts him back a firm 'NO.' and turns off her phone)

Chloe catches her on the way out of their next Bella's practice (actually just the next morning, 9a.m. sharp again with another little motivating text about severe consequences. Aubrey clearly hates them all), also catching the attention of some of the other Bellas. Clearly Aubrey isn't the only one to have noticed the tension between Beca and Chloe over the last few days. Currently they are not-so-subtly slowing down their pace, or pretending to check their phones or bags while they eavesdrop.

'Hey,' says Chloe softly, glancing at the other Bellas before turning back to Beca. 'Can we talk?'

She doesn't quite look at Beca's face as she says it but stares at her forehead. At this close proximity Beca can see that there's still that sad droop in the corners of her mouth, and her skin seems even more washed out and grey than last time. She's shuffling from foot to foot in a nervous manner that's so unlike her – she's nervous around Beca? – that she nearly gives in there and then.

Nearly, that is. Because before she did so she happened to look over Chloe's shoulder, where Aubrey was shuffling through sheet music but rather obviously watching the conversation from her peripheral vision. The sight just pisses off Beca more, eliminating any desire to talk things through sensibly with Chloe.

'What's the point? You already set your bulldog on me to talk for you, right?' She doesn't bother to lower her voice. For a moment something Aubrey said flashes in her mind: 'The point is that you hurt her feelings and made her cry, because you didn't know how to control your anger and deal with things like a grown-up.' She's not exactly behaving like a grown-up now. But Jesus, she thinks with another rush of anger, neither is setting Aubrey on her.

Chloe's gaze finally snaps to Beca's. She frowns in confusion. 'My… what? What are you talking about?'

'Forget it. I've got better things to do. Also…' She looks down between them meaningfully. When Chloe realises she started holding onto Beca's forearm without even thinking, she drops it immediately, looking stricken.

She doesn't say anything when Beca leaves, but Amy's whisper of 'Tune in for the next episode of "Aca-drama"!' follows her all the way out.

She's just minding her own business in the station - she'd tried to stay mad at Jesse, but he'd started being a dork with pretending the record cases were his face and giving her juice to apologise - when Jesse suddenly comes running, making highly irritating siren noises.

'Chloe alert at 12 o'clock! Abort, abort!' he whispers to her frantically. Then he pauses and glances at the clock on his phone. 'Well, more like 11:45, but whatever, you get the idea.' He starts up his siren noises again.

'Shut up, you idiot!' she says, smacking him on the chest hard enough to make him wince. Beca looks over his shoulder, expecting to see Chloe nearby, but there is no sign of her. 'Where is she? I don't see her.'

'I was getting Luke one of his daily cheeseburgers and I saw her making her way here, so I ran back to tell you. But if she's coming then she'll be here really soon.'

'Great,' Beca says, throwing her hands up. 'Just what I need right now.'

Jesse wrings his hands, looking as wound up as Beca feels. 'So what are you going to do?'

'Absolutely nothing. I'm not going to speak to her.' Beca walks off into one of the darker corners of the room, hiding herself in the shadows. 'Get rid of her!'

'What?! How?!'

'I dunno, improvise, use your imagination! Say I'm not here! Just do something!' she shouts, but has to clamp a hand over her mouth because the door opens at that very moment, followed by the unmistakable sound of Chloe's boots on the floor.

It strikes her as a little weird that she knows what Chloe's footsteps sound like, but then they are pretty distinctive; Chloe walks like she's dancing, a distinct rhythm in her step. Rarely does she simply put one foot in front of the other, but bounces and hops and skips like every step must reach its full potential of movement. Today she's shuffling a little, somewhat downcast, obviously miserable.

Beca suddenly realises she's actually discerning Chloe's moods from the way she walks. There's probably money in a skill like that.

Chloe's voice carries across the room as clearly as if Beca were standing next to her despite the music playing from the booth. 'Hi, Jesse. Is Beca here?'

'Um… no?' Beca hears him say nervously. She cringes at how unconvincing his performance is.

'Really? Isn't that her jacket over there?'

'Uhh…'

She hears Chloe sigh. 'Where's she hiding?' Her footsteps start sounding quite nearby to Beca as she walks in her direction. Holding her breath, she presses herself against the nearest wall.

'Wait!' Jesse cries desperately. 'I'm not sure Luke would like you coming in here to talk to her while she's working. Maybe you should come back another time.'

'Oh, Luke and I go way back,' replies Chloe airily. 'It'll just be a minute - I'm sure he won't mind.'

Jesse's protests are ignored by Chloe as she continues to walk towards Beca – how did she even know she was there?! Her footsteps are determined now, speeding up as she nears the corner. Beca tries to find something to hide behind, but as fate would have it, the one piece of furniture shorter than her happens to be the only one close enough to her. Dammit.

She's just about to sprint across the room to hide in one of the booths when Chloe's voice stops her mid-run.

'Hey.'

She freezes, slowly rotating her body to face Chloe with an unsure smile on her lips.

Chloe looks, if possible, even worse than she has when Beca's seen her the past few days. Her skin still has that awful pale tint to it, but now Beca realises what makes it look worse than usual is that she's not wearing any make-up at all, so the red, puffy bags beneath her eyes are showing even more than they might without it. There's barely any colour at all in her face and it contrasts her hair heavily. On top of that she's not wearing any of the bright pastel-coloured colours she's usually prone to, but a faded, oversized hoodie that she's currently chewing the string of, her face set in an anxious frown.

Beca decides there must be something else going on here, because there's no possible way she could ever make anyone look that awful.

Beca slowly turns away from to the CD cases, feeling weird seeing Chloe like this. Unfortunately this is one pile Jesse and she already stacked, so there's not even anything she can properly distract herself with. Aware she hasn't responded yet, she clears her throat and mutters, 'Hi.'

'How are you?'

She shrugs. 'Can't complain.' Much. 'You?'

'I've felt a lot better, honestly.' She can't see, but she's pretty sure Chloe comes a little closer to her, judging by the increased volume of her next words. 'Jesse already said I can't keep you long,' Beca almost snorts at this because that's definitely not what he said, 'so I'll just say what I came to say and leave.'

Beca stays silent, picking up one of the CD cases and turning it over with feigned interest.

'When you said I'd set my bulldog on you, I genuinely didn't get what you meant.' She laughs. The sound is bitter. 'I'm dumb, sorry. '

Beca's still silent. The CD case is an Aqua album. Do people still listen to Aqua? She wonders if there's something she can mix Barbie Girl with to make the bubblegum pop more interesting.

'So. Aubrey paid you a visit.'

Beca nods absent-mindedly. Maybe some Katy Perry? Meanwhile though, she's still silent as a mouse. Are mice really that silent, anyway?

'I didn't ask her to do that.'

'Not what she told me,' she finds herself saying before she remembers the whole silence thing. Dammit.

'I was upset and she asked, so yeah - I told her what happened. But I never asked her to confront you on my behalf, and I never would.'

Beca does a half-turn, opening her mouth to say something, but Chloe's next words spill out before she can get even a word in.

'And I'm not mad at you, Beca, no matter what she said, and, I really really hope you're not mad at me either, but I'd totally understand if you were and I'm so sorry if I made you uncomfortable at all in the past but I'm willing to work on it and - and I just want us to be friends again, so much, so please can we at least try and work this out? You mean so much to me even though I haven't known you that long, and I don't want things to be ruined just 'cause I'm a total dumbass. If you don't ever want to see me again, you just need to say, but I wish we could just start again, from the beginning...'

Beca turns around fully, staring at Chloe. Her cheeks are glowing a bright pink, the first bit of colour she's seen there for a few days.

'Fuck! I'm sorry,' Chloe mumbles, gnawing anxiously on the string of her hoodie again. 'I didn't mean to say that much... I should go.' She straightens up, suddenly talking very loudly, 'I'll be going now, bye Beca!'

She spins and makes a run for the exit, but Beca calls out before she can stop herself, 'Chloe, wait!'

Chloe does wait, but unfortunately she's positioned herself right outside Luke's booth (luckily he hasn't noticed yet), and in full view of Jesse. Not that there's any chance he hasn't already heard every word, but Beca would like at least some appearance of privacy. No such luck, since he's not even trying to pretend he's busy like the Bellas did, instead gawping openly at them.

She does her best to ignore him as she approaches Chloe. She pauses a few feet away and crosses her arms across her chest.

'Look.' Time to be a grown-up. '… I'm sorry.'

Chloe's eyes widen. An apology was obviously not what she was expecting. Somehow that makes Beca feel even more like a shit-stain on the bottom of the world's shoe. 'What?'

'I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said what I did the way I did. Aubrey was… Aubrey was right.' The words make her want to throw up a little in her mouth. Must be the association with Aubrey. 'I shouldn't have made my problems into your problems and been such a dick about it. And I'm sorry I was a bitch to you earlier today. I just got defensive when Aubrey came and yelled at me, even if she kinda had a point. It's not your fault I have issues with physical contact.'

'It's not your fault either,' Chloe argues, her voice gentle. 'I'm sorry, I'll talk to her. I didn't want her to go off on you like that.'

'Mmm.' Beca picks at a part of her nail polish that's been scratched away. 'It was worse because we weren't talking either. So I thought you'd actually wanted her to come and tell me you weren't sure why you'd ever tried to be my friend.'

'Oh Beca…' Chloe whispers. 'Is that what she told you?' Beca nods silently. 'That's not true. That's not true at all. Aubrey was just being over-protective.'

'Yeah, well.' Beca shoves her hands in the pockets of her jeans, staring at the floor. 'Considering you didn't even really speak to me after that, I thought she might've been at least a little right.'

'I didn't think you actually wanted to speak to me.'

'That never would have bothered you in the past, though. When I said what I did, I wasn't like, expecting a complete personality change. All I wanted was for you to back off a bit, but since then you've been so weird when you speak to me. It's like you're scared to upset me, tiptoeing around like I'm fragile... when I'm not.'

Chloe looks visibly upset at this. 'I know you're not, Beca. That was never my intention. I just wanted to give you some space. I thought that was what you wanted.' She shakes her head. 'I've made such a mess of this.'

'A little, yeah,' Beca admits. '… But I haven't made it easy for you.'

Luke apparently takes this moment to realise there's someone unexpected in the room, and he pokes his head out of the door, looking pissed. 'Hey, you guys are supposed to be work – oh, Chloe!' His face immediately brightens up. 'Hey, how've you been? Haven't seen you around here for a while.'

Chloe smiles at him, but it's strained. 'Hi, Luke. I'm fine. How's Kate?'

'She's doing good. Training to be a teacher.' His proud smile makes Beca wonder who Kate is. His girlfriend? Beca thought he was single, or at least, she's never seen him with any woman. And how does Chloe know both of them?

'That's great. I'm happy for her.'

Luke grins at her, then glances back over his shoulder into the booth. 'Well, it's always great seeing you, Chloe, but Becky and Jesse have work to do, and so do I. Catch up with you another time, though? And you two,' he says, pointing at them both, 'I better not see you slacking anymore.' He disappears back into the booth.

'Why does he call you Becky?' Chloe asks when he's gone.

'Why do you know Luke?' she counters.

'Aha.' Chloe arches an eyebrow. 'Seems like stories we can swap another time. Over… coffee, maybe.' Again with the fiddling with the strings of her hoodie – it's so uncharacteristic of Chloe to see her acting this way. 'If you're up for it, that is.'

She doesn't really have to think about her answer. 'Yeah.'

Chloe grins so broadly that Beca might have told her she bought her a house, rather than simply agreed to meet up with her somewhere. It tells her she made the right decision. 'Great. Text me when you're free. In the meantime, I should go - you've got work to do.'

'Okay. I'll see you later then.' She's not sure what to do, now. Chloe would normally jump at her with a hug at this point and bounce out the door, and she would roll her eyes in slight exasperation and a tiny smile. Now it's just awkward, since Chloe doesn't seem sure of whether she should try and hug her anymore.

Giving up, Beca slowly starts to back away to the table she was working at before. But before she even moves a foot away, Chloe blurts out, 'Wait!'

Beca turns expectantly.

'Is it alright if I hug you goodbye?' asks Chloe, biting her lip. 'You can say no.'

Beca shrugs, secretly a little glad. 'Sure, I guess. No funny business, though, okay?' She's mostly joking, wagging a finger in Chloe's face. It feels good to joke with her again.

At that, Chloe laughs. 'Sure, I guess,' she says, mocking Beca's tone.

Not wasting a second, she then puts her arms around Beca (a little too enthusiastically, but it wouldn't be a Chloe-hug without her knocking someone off balance). Her grip is looser in this embrace than one the old Chloe might have given her, and she seems a little on edge still. Beca savours it anyway, finding to her surprise that she's missed Chloe's hugs. Plus, having some control over whether it happens or not makes her feel a lot better.

After a moment, though, Beca notices something strange.

'Chloe, are you… smelling my hair?'

A pause, where Chloe tenses. '… No?'

'Chloe…'

'I'm sorry, I can't help it!' Chloe wails. 'You just smell really good!'

That makes Beca crack up, if only because Chloe does sound genuinely distraught. Clearly she has some boundary issues to work on, but she means well. Not to mention it kinda makes her feel warm inside that Chloe's really taken it to heart that she needs to respect Beca's space. No one's ever been that considerate towards her before.

'Alright, I suppose I'll let you get away with it. But just this once, because I know I smell too awesome to resist,' she teases.

Chloe scoffs good-naturedly. 'I'll have to borrow your shampoo.'

'Yeah, but stay out of my shower while you're borrowing it.'

Chloe laughs, giving her a small squeeze before letting go. 'We'll see. Bye, Beca.'

After Chloe leaves, Beca smiles for the rest of that shift.

Jesse mocks her incessantly, a huge grin on his face but she can't bring herself to care.

A/N: I don't want to be one of 'those' sorts of writers, but if you have any sort of opinion at all it'd be great if you could leave a comment. Even if you hate it. Especially if you hate it!